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IclockedRayyansquare in the jaw.
Nickshouted slurs,Rosegasped, andPoppyglanced at the injuredRayyanon the ground, mildly curious.Onlythe people in the immediate vicinity saw me land the punch.AlthoughIshould be concerned if more bore witness to thisPRnightmare,Icouldn’t find it in myself to care.
“Whatthe hell,Damon?”Cadenand my cousins were at my side in a pinch, his hateful eyes steady on a weepingRose.Itwas obvious they kept an eye on the scene from a distance. “Whywould you approach her in public?” he gritted out in a whisper, referring toPoppy.
“Youknow why.”Becauseshe would’ve refused to speak to me otherwise.Notthat it mattered.Privateor public, they made it clear how unavailable she was to me.
Itdidn’t eraseCaden’sfrustration. “Youshould still know better than to do this shit in public.Everythingyou worked for will be gone if this goes public.”Cadenwas already pushing me out of the room while my cousins ensured no one from their group launched a counterattack.
Ileft with one last glance at the girl with haunted eyes and mouthed, “Goodbye,Ambani.”
Theone impulsive action ended whatever bridgeIintended to mend.Becauselater that night,RayyanAmbaniwas found dead.Thepolice showed up at my doorstep, andIwas the number one suspect.
* * *
ACT 4
ChapterTwenty-Seven
DAMON
Poppywascomplacent whenMigueldrove us to the airport.Shefell asleep on the flight back, butIdidn't wake her during the ride to my condo and carried her to our bedroom.Someadjustments, such as installing lock code pads between rooms and removing sharp objects, were implemented in my penthouse while we were away.Itwas temporary untilPoppyadjusted to the situation.
Somemight argue this was hardly the foundation for a healthy marriage.Anyrational person would sayIhad lost my mind.Butwhen the video surfaced ofRosefalling, along with the texts she sent me,IknewPoppywould no longer give in to my advances.Shecould live with betraying the rest of her family, but notRose.PoppythoughtRosewas too fragile to survive such a blow.Insome ways, she was right.
Rose’sreaction almost cost her life.Themoment she awoke, she'd be further devastated upon finding out about us.Onetear fromNeilorRosecould thaw, if not melt,Poppy'sicy heart because she couldn’t stomach their sadness.HadInot married her, she would've cut ties with me.Whatother choice didIhave other than to deceive her?
Butfirst,Iwanted to givePoppya day she'd never forget in her favorite city.Partof me hoped she'd fall enough in love with me to agree to an impulsive, drunkenLasVegaswedding.Thehopeful wish died whenPoppyripped away from me even after sharing the perfect day.Shecouldn’t see past theRosedilemma, andIhad to make an executive decision.Poppy'sconcerns would eventually fade once she was pregnant with our baby.
IknewPoppyfelt betrayed.Everyoneelse in life had let her down, and she put me above those imbeciles.Shatteringher illusion brought me no joy.Thelast thingIshould do was impregnate my eighteen-year-old wife while she hated me.Ishould wait a few years, butIcan’t help it.IthoughtI'dbe placated once my ring was on her finger.Instead,Ihad become more psychotic, consumed with the idea of fucking my baby into her.
ShethoughtIwas doing all this to merge our two companies.Technically, this marriage would solidify the futures of our two organizations.Wecould finally pursue the original deal when we first met, so her company didn't go belly up while competing with mine.Itwas also part of the reasonIwanted us to marry as soon as possible.Theother reason wasPoppy’shesitations surroundingRose.Iworried it’d be enough to push her into a marriage arranged by her family.Bigcompanies often negotiated such deals based on mergers; hers was no different.Icouldn't risk it.Idepended onPoppyto function.
IfIwent a day without seeingPoppy'sface, others barely survived my wrath.Thosewere the daysIwanted to fuck her so bad it was allIthought about instead of doing one lick of work.I'dblow up on people randomly.Isaw the fear in their eyes and didn't know how to tamper down my anger.SincePoppyandIstarted up,Iwas once more a sea of calm.Shewas my reason to breathe, to live, to get up in the morning.Iwould do anything for her except give her up.
Ineeded to isolatePoppyfrom her family to make her mine.Theanswer came in the form of a photo.Ihad seen the picture ofPoppywith her parents, butInever knew the story behind it.Poppy'sloyalty was her weakness.Despitethe years, she was devoted to her father.Iknew she'd snap ifItook the photo, and the first person she'd attack wasZane, followed by her mother.Theyears of resentment had built up inside her.AllIdid was give her a gentle shove.Nonetheless, ruining her relationship with them brought me no joy, andIvowed to fix it once our marriage was cemented.
Fornow,Iplan on enjoying the thingsIhave craved for years.IwantedPoppyall to myself without having to count the number of steps between us or keeping my feelings a secret from the world.Ihad wanted to steal her away for so long, andIfinally had.
Givenmy philanthropic efforts, whatIdid toPoppywas hypocritical.Iguess the line between right and wrong blurred somewhere along my patience while waiting for her to turn of age.Ifyou think about it, she was the one who did this to me.ThemoreIwaited, the moreIlost my mind.
IknewPoppycould fall in love with me given some time.Shewas already halfway there, with only her loyalty holding her back.Aboyfriend might not trump the woman you consider a sister, but a husband would.BecauseIknewPoppybetter than anyone else.Iknew her better thanIknew myself.IfIcould keep her at my penthouse, show herIwas the only man capable of loving her despite knowing every last evil deed she had done, she’d see the light.
Ilay sideways on the bed, head propped up on my elbow.Untyingthe plaits so her strands fanned out on the black pillow,Iplayed withPoppy'shair.Ihadn't been able to look away the entire time she slept.Itwas the only time she looked innocent.Watchingher do mundane tasks such as sleeping or eating turned me on likeInever imagined possible.
Foryears,Ijerked off to her so much that the cumIspilled could fill not just my outdoor pool but my neighbors' as well.Nonetheless,Imaintained distance.HadIpreyed on her when she was a lost girl grieving her dead father, it would've fucked her up.Ihad to wait until she turned a reasonable age.Thewait killed me a little every day.Aftertouching her and watching her up close,Iwas incapable of keeping my distance again.
Iwaited years for this moment.Theday she wore my ring, andIcould finally shout through a megaphone that she was mine.
Myfingers hovered overPoppy'sleft hand.Thefresh ink glimmered under the dim lighting.Itwas a tattoo of her obsidian ring etched around her ring finger.Iwas shocked she slept through it.Nodoubt an aftereffect of the drugs.She’dbe pissed about this new tattoo, but it was necessary.
Thefirst thingPoppywould do upon noticing her wedding ring would be to take it off and chuck it across the room.So,Icopied the design and tattooed it on her ring finger.Evenif she took off the wedding ring, she'd never go a minute without people knowing she belonged to me.
Afterthe last tattoo we got together,Inearly killed the artist whenIsaw his finger trailing her skin longer than necessary.Icould practically see the lewd thoughts on his face and knew what he was thinking.Imight've thrown on a hoodie, then met him in the parking lot to get in a couple of punches.
Afterthe incident,Ivowed no one else would tattoo her again.Itook lessons and could replicate designs, including rings and lines ticking off the years (we had four of those on the back of our necks).
WhatIcouldn't do was tattoo my own finger.Oneof the bodyguards who came toVegaswith us was a tattoo artist who tattooed my ring finger on the flight home afterIwas done withPoppy’s.
